A Special Piece of Equipment – St. John Hospital District Foundation

Sunday

May 5, 2013 at 12:01 AMMay 5, 2013 at 4:01 AM

One of the first things you need to have a new medic experience before you ever let them drive on an actual emergency is to strap them down on the cot and give them a bit of a wild ride. They get the point – real fast – that the ride for a patient can [...]

Steve Moody

One of the first things you need to have a new medic experience before you ever let them drive on an actual emergency is to strap them down on the cot and give them a bit of a wild ride. They get the point – real fast – that the ride for a patient can be an unforgettable experience.

Lately, we have found that our ambulance cots are just not adequate for our above average sized patients. This makes for an uncomfortable ride and it’s also dangerous for the medics when moving the patient. The problem reared it’s head again the other day again. Our cot was clearly not adequate for the patient and wasn’t safe for the medics.

The solution was a special ambulance cot. The problem was a special cot is EXTREMELY expensive – $15,280.

Well, Friday evening a special group helped us with our problem. The St. John Hospital District Foundation voted to appropriate funds to purchase a special ambulance cot for Stafford County EMS.

This cot has some very unique features.

It is outfitted with a thicker concave mattress. Additionally, the cot has attachment wings that follow the concave mattress to give the patient even greater stabilization. Another feature is the knee flexing component. But, maybe the best feature of all is the electric motor that raises and lowers the cot.

The cot will be carried on the ambulance at St. John, but it will be brought anywhere in the county if needed. Furthermore, it will be utilized whenever needed for long distance transfers to outlying hospitals.

What the St. John Hospital District Foundation did has the potential to help every single Stafford County resident and any visitor. If you see one of the Foundation members please thank them.

And there’s another group the cot will have even greater likelihood of helping – Stafford County’s medics.

To the Foundation members – the medics in Stafford “Thank You”, the medics in Macksville “Thank You”, the medics in St. John “Thank You”, and I “Thank You”.